April 26/06 9:12 am - Tour of Shenandoah: Stages 1 & 2

Posted by Editoress on 04/26/06

Tour of Shenandoah VirginiaCourtesy Organizer

Sunny skies and warm temperatures created perfect racing conditions for the first stage at the Tour of Shenandoah, and Team Priority Health's performance was nearly perfect too, as their riders easily won the stage and claimed third spot on the podium.

Tom Zirbel earned top honors, winning the 2.6 mile point-to-point time trial in 6:15.04. The signature of the morning's time trial was Mole Hill, a half-mile slog that got increasingly steeper and offered riders little reprieve until the finish line. "It's a sadistic way to end a prologue," Zirbel enthused about the climb. "We pre-rode the course and knew it was tough," he added. Zirbel complimented the race directors for designing a hilly and technical course, a course that well suited to him and his teammates.

Ryan Roth of Canada-based Team R.A.C.E. finished second in 6:26.75. Pre-race excitement got the best of Roth and he jumped the gun a bit, costing him a time penalty of 1 second. "I felt decent," Roth said, shrugging off the penalty. "You never know one-hundred percent going into it, but I was hoping for a top five [finish]. I'm pleased," added Roth. "The hill was tough," he grimaced and said he doesn't consider himself a particularly strong climber.

Brent Brookwalter of Priority Health earned the third podium spot with a time of 6:29.01. "It's a great course," grinned Brookwater who said he was glad the race directors "threw in a hill for good measure."

The competition is close at the top. Less than 25 seconds separate the first and tenth-placed riders.

The riders will have little time to recover from their tough sprint up Mole Hill; the day did not finish with the time trial. The Stage 2 criterium follows at 6:00 p.m. in Harrisonburg's historic downtown Court Square.

"My team will protect me and keep me out of trouble tonight," said Zirbal as he described his team's strategy to support his bid for to win the General Classification (individual overall category) at the end of the Tour. "We'll be as conservative as we can tonight, criteriums aren't really our thing," said Roth. "We still have six days of hard riding, but we'll be OK,"added, Roth who continued feeling sure he and his team were well-positioned for the rest of the week.

Priority Health and Team R.A.C.E. have established themselves early as the ones to beat. Of course, with six more stages there's plenty of time for riders to catch up. As Brent Brookwalter said after he stepped down from the podium: "It's a long race."